Prince William County supervisor concerned with health care zoning matter

A planned Dumfries area health cen­ter pharmacy for military families could violate a proffer restriction depending on future actions by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, Chairman Corey A. Stewart said.

On multiple occasions, the U.S. Army has awarded a contract to St. Louis-based Spectrum to provide healthcare services for the military population currently being served by CRAssociates at the Woodbridge Family Health Care Center off Smoketown Road. Spectrum is constructing a facility in an office park on Fettler Park Drive near Dumfries and hopes to open by July.

CRAssociates — which has run the clinic since 2001 — has disputed the county zoning administrator’s 2010 ruling that the pharmacy intended for the new facil­ity would be ancillary in use and not retail. Retail pharmacies are prohibited in the of­fice park by proffer.

The Supreme Court of Virginia has twice stated county supervisors must do nothing for a year or until the Prince William Coun­ty Circuit Court hears the zoning matter. If a circuit court judge decides that the Board of County Supervisors should consider the case, it could be after the targeted opening date of the Dumfries area facility, Stewart said.

“The idea that this place could be shot down … is frightening to me. In particular I’m really worried about the impact to the service personnel,” Stewart said last week. Stewart said his letter was not on behalf of the county or the board, but the matter remains a concern of his and of another supervisor.

Neither party knows when a circuit court date will be set. CRAssociates senior vice president Charlie B. Robbins said the coun­ty should be concerned with Spectrum’s plan for a drive-through for prescription pickups, as well as the large numbers that could potentially use the facility for phar­maceutical purposes only.

Despite serving only 27,000 in its Wood­bridge location, Robbins said, the number of eligible patients who could use the facil­ity would be upwards of 280,000. Robbins said the current setup, in a retail strip mall with “ample parking and access,” is a much better setting for this type of facility.

“The Prince William County Board of Su­pervisors has had no opportunity to make a decision on the retail pharmacy use in the new location, before it will be built,” Robbins stated in an email Monday.

Spectrum attorney Raighne Delaney wouldn’t comment on the details of the case when reached by phone last week. However, Delaney did issue a statement from the company last week.

“Spectrum will build whatever is in the best interests of the customers and will do so in compliance with all county rules and regulations.”

In Spectrum’s response letter to Stewart, Delaney reiterated his opinion that the pharmacy will not be retail in nature.

“The Zoning Administrator was cor­rect,” stated Delaney. “A medical dispen­sary directly associated with the clinic is not a ‘drug store’ as in ‘high-volume retail pharmacy,’ as CRA attempts to charac­terize it. The dispensary only dispenses drugs to the clinic’s patients, without conducting any financial transaction as­sociated with that effort. It is not a ‘store’ of any type.”

CRAssociates is also currently appeal­ing the contract award to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Army first awarded the $230 million contract to Spectrum in 2009. 

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-530-3904.